


Carry On Up

by cosmic_llin



Series: Fandom Stocking 2013/14 [4]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Early in Canon, Episode Related, First Meetings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-10
Updated: 2014-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-08 05:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1128966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres meet in an Ocampan medical facility.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carry On Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parcequelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parcequelle/gifts).



Kathryn Janeway opened her eyes and saw nothing but too-bright whiteness. She closed them again. Memories came in bits and pieces - the mysterious array, the strange farm, the barn, the blurry recollection of her crew strapped down on beds, the needles...  
  
She groaned, and a voice said 'Please don’t try to move yet. You are very ill.’  
  
She opened her eyes again, slowly this time. Two unfamiliar aliens were standing over her - white room, uniforms, kindly expressions - some sort of medical facility. Had they rescued her from wherever she had been before, or was this going to be more of the same?  
  
‘I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway, of the Federation starship Voyager,’ she said, her throat croaking. ‘Would you mind telling me where I am and what is happening?’  
  
Just then there was a crash and a voice yelling 'No!' Kathryn turned, and saw that she wasn’t the only patient. A young Klingon woman had jumped out of the other bed and was struggling with one of the staff. She looked afraid.  
  
Memory prodded her through the fog that still clouded her brain. That was B’Elanna Torres, one of the Maquis she was meant to be apprehending.  
  
‘Wait,’ said Kathryn, ‘let me...’  
  
But they had already given the girl something to make her sleep. She slumped, face still contorted with anger and fear, and they carried her back to the bed.  
  
‘What is this place? What are we doing here?’ Kathryn asked.  
  
‘I’m sorry, we’ll return later and answer your questions,’ said one of the aliens.  
  
With that they were gone. Kathryn sat up properly, stretched - and that was when she noticed the strange growths - one on her hand, one at her collarbone, one on her hip. They were uncomfortable but not painful. She checked the Maquis - she had the same thing.   
  
The girl couldn’t be woken, so Kathryn spent the next twenty minutes in a thorough survey of the room. No visible ways out, nothing to use as a weapon or a tool, no indication of where they were or what was happening.  
  
When the girl woke up with a gasp, Kathryn was at her side.  
  
‘You’re all right,’ she said. ‘It’s okay. Breathe slowly. You’re going to be all right.’  
  
The girl glared at her. ‘Who are you?’  
  
‘I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway, of the Federation starship Voyager.’  
  
‘Starfleet!’ the girl spat. ‘I should have guessed. Why have you brought me here?’  
  
‘We didn’t bring you here,’ Kathryn explained. ‘My ship was looking for yours and we got caught in the same anomaly you did and brought here. It looks as though we were both kidnapped from that array. I have no idea who these people are or what they want from us - or what these growths on us are - but I think the situation demands that we work together, at least for the time being. Is that acceptable to you?’  
  
Torres hesitated, but finally nodded.  
  
* * *  
  
The Ocampa, as they turned out to be called, were kind but not terribly helpful. They had no idea what had caused the illness, what was going on or why. All they knew was that their Caretaker sent them sick people, who later died.   
  
Kathryn got the impression that the subterranean city wasn’t as idyllic as it at first appeared, and she was curious to know more, but escaping and returning to Voyager had to take priority. They investigated and discovered a secret route to the surface, through ancient tunnels mostly blocked by deadly force fields. A sympathetic nurse gave them directions and tools to dig.  
  
The tunnel began with a staircase - metal, fragile-looking, and winding up so high that Kathryn couldn’t see the top. B’Elanna let out a whimper of despair.  
  
‘We can do this,’ Kathryn said, with a confidence she didn’t feel - whatever this illness was, it was beginning to take its toll. She felt shaky and lightheaded, and she could have cried at the thought of climbing those stairs.  
  
‘We’ll die before we get halfway,’ said B’Elanna glumly.  
  
‘Maybe,’ said Kathryn, ‘but at least we’ll be doing something. What’s the alternative, stay with the Ocampa and waste away in front of those screens? Maybe if we get high enough, Voyager will pick up our life signs and beam us out. We might not even have to go all the way up.’  
  
‘Are you always this relentlessly optimistic?’ B’Elanna asked, but she reached for the handrail and pulled herself onto the staircase.  
  
‘That’s the spirit!’ said Kathryn.  
  
B’Elanna swore at her. Kathryn chose to ignore it.  
  
* * *  
  
They were making progress. Slow, agonising progress, but progress nonetheless. Kathryn’s legs ached and her chest burned with every breath she took. B’Elanna, even with her extra lung, wasn’t faring much better. The lights were fewer now, so that they spent long minutes climbing through utter darkness, with only the clang of their feet on the staircase and the sound of their breathing to remind them that any of this was real.  
  
Kathryn felt the cool metal stair on her cheek before she realised that she had stumbled.   
  
‘What happened?’ asked B’Elanna, her voice echoing in the dark shaft. ‘Are you all right?’  
  
‘I don’t think I can go on,’ said Kathryn. ‘B’Elanna, you should keep going, see if you can get help. I’ll be all right here for a while.’  
  
‘No,’ said B’Elanna.  
  
‘No?’   
  
‘You heard me. We got into this together, we’re getting out of it together.’  
  
‘Look, B’Elanna, you can still make it. The logical course of action is for you to...’  
  
‘Oh, logic - you sound like one of my shipmates, he’s always talking about the logical way to do things. You know what, I don’t care what’s logical. I don’t care what’s sensible. I don’t care that you think you can order me around like you do your Starfleet crew, and I don’t even care that you’ll probably arrest me the second we escape from this place. We’re getting out of this together and I don’t care if I have to drag you. Come on!’  
  
And she hooked her arms under Kathryn’s shoulders and hauled her upright.  
  
‘I don’t think being dragged is compatible with my dignity as a Starfleet captain,’ Kathryn said. ‘I can walk, I think.’  
  
‘Good,’ said B’Elanna. ‘Here, take my hand, we’ll catch each other if one of us falls.’  
  
In the darkness, Kathryn reached out and found B’Elanna’s hand. They wrapped their fingers tightly together, and carried on upward.


End file.
